


Eclipsed

by DigitalThespian



Series: Black Sun AU [2]
Category: Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson
Genre: Amnesia, Black Sun AU, Blood, Emotional Manipulation, Fluff, I promise the tags make it sound worse than it is, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 03:28:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20959700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitalThespian/pseuds/DigitalThespian
Summary: Moomin wakes in an unfamiliar place, only to be met with more questions than answers.Where was Snufkin? Where washe?...and why did this place feel sowrong?





	Eclipsed

**Author's Note:**

> This should stand on its own, but I may end up expanding it in the future. It definitely reads differently if you haven't read The Black Sun Hungers.  
Based on this AU: https://black-sun-au.tumblr.com/post/186565059108/hey-you-interested-in-black-sun-heard-about-it

"Where.. where am I?" Moomin looked down at himself; he seemed to be fine..? Wasn't he just with..

Snufkin. He had to find Snufkin. He always knew what to do.

He had to be okay. Please. He cast his gaze around, trying to find a sign that Snufkin had been here. The landscape was an odd off-black, almost dark blue, but stranger still was that only the river and the sky did not share that dark coloration. The water was a reflective silver—and it too had a blue tint—and the sky was a midnight blue, dotted with stars.

It must be night here, but.. it was day before, was he really out for that long? He felt a cold chill come over him, and he wrapped his arms around himself to try to hold on to his composure. He needed to find Snufkin.

He set off along the riverbank; he didn't trust himself to navigate the monochrome land space without getting terribly lost. He ran his tongue along his teeth nervously. He really should stop doing that—

That wasn't important right now. Snufkin. Where was Snufkin? He began to run, his calm facade beginning to crack. "S-Snu-!" He held a paw to his throat, letting out a wet, wracking cough. How long _was_ he out?

"You're a new face. You and that other boy, the one with the dress." An unknown voice addressed him, and he bent his knees, unsheathing his claws with a snarl, ready to fight.

"What did you do with Snufkin!?" Moomin bared his teeth, looking around wildly. A tall, thin, figure stepped out from behind a tree, and Moomin's tense demeanor relaxed slightly, though he didn't relax his posture. "Joxter? What are _you_ doing here? And what happened to your clothes?"

The Joxter—at least, Moomin thought he was, but looks can be deceiving, he reminded himself—looked down at himself and shrugged. "I changed styles, I suppose. If you're looking for Snufkin, he went running off that way, looking for you." He pointed upriver, the way Moomin had already been going.

He dashed off without so much as a thank you, and The Joxter shook his head. "Those two are so strange."

Moomin rounded the bend in the river, thundering along the bank through brush and grass alike. Anything that impeded his progress was torn apart in seconds by his claws, leaving a rather impressive trail of destruction in his wake.

Soon he reached a clearing where the river meandered lazily and the trees seemed to whisper that everything would be okay. Moomin growled to himself. He would be the judge of that.

Then he heard a sound he hadn't heard in a long time; the sound of a harmonica. He ran towards the source, and he found Snufkin sitting on a rock by the bank. He was also wearing different clothes; a blue-black coat, and his scarf was light blue.

"..Snufkin? What happened to your scarf?" Moomin had stopped some distance away, and he could feel his paws tensing, ready to claw apart anyone who dared to use Snufkin against him. Am impostor, perhaps.

"I woke up here, and my scarf was blue. Simple as that. I don't know if I like this place, my dove. I've felt strange since I arrived. Like something is missing." Moomin finally relaxed at hearing his love say that he was uncomfortable with this place too.

"It's so good to hear you say that, this clearing feels _wrong_, somehow," Moomin walked over, sitting next to Snufkin and slipping an arm through his. "So, what should we do, my dear?"

"I'm.. not sure. It's.. it's hard to think here, almost. Certain thoughts just.. skitter away, like trying to catch a marble with a pair of tweezers."

Moomin frowned. "That sounds awful. You know what would help you clear your head? We should go on a little outing." He grinned, but Snufkin only smiled sedately.

"That does sound nice. Where shall we go?" Where.. where had Moomin intended to go? He couldn't remember.

"I think I see what you mean. I was quite sure I knew before, but now.."

Snufkin finished his sentence. "It's as though the very thought was pulled away from you, somehow."

"Yes! You always have had a way with words, Snuf." Moomin looked over at him adoringly, and gently touched his face. "May I kiss you, Snufkin?"

"Oh, please do. I could very much use something reassuring, I think." Snufkin leaned in to press their lips together, and with it came a single moment of clarity. The ritual. The other versions of themselves. They pulled away, staring at each other in shock.

Snufkin swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat. "You remembered that too, then?"

"Did we.. are we..?"

"No, I don't.. I don't _think_ we're dead."

Moomin put his paws to his temples. "But why else would everything feel so.. off?"

"..your.. _vision_ just now, were you.. well, you? Or were you just watching?"

"I saw myself, and I saw someone that looked like you, but the colors were all wrong." Snufkin hummed thoughtfully in response.

"I saw the same, except it was _your_ eyes that were wrong."

"Do you think that all actually happened?"

"It certainly seemed real, but.. why would we have ended up _here_?"

"I suppose we'll simply have to find out. After all, together we can do anything, right Snuf?"

"Of course, my dove. We're clever and resourceful; we can figure this mystery out with time to spare for our hunt this evening," The two looked at each other in confusion.

"Hunt? Did we plan something I'm forgetting? I'm sorry, dear—" Moomin was cut off by a gentle paw on his shoulder.

"No, no, I don't remember either.. I can't for the life of me remember what I meant by that."

"Then we'll figure that out too!"

"Moomin?"

"Yes, love?"

"After we find out what's wrong here.." Snufkin trailed off, taking off his hat to reveal light blue hair, matching the scarf. "Oh, that's new.." He idly twisted a few strands. "The mystery deepens. Well, that's enough chatter. We have a conundrum and by the stars I'm going to have an answer."

Moomin stepped back to let Snufkin hop off the rock. "Come on, dove. We've got a mystery waiting for us. Just like old times, right?"

Moomin smiled. "Yeah, just like old times."

* * *

They stood at the edge of the water, staring in shock. Looking back at them was an identical version of themselves, except for the color scheme. Moomin's reflection had red eyes and yellowing, matted fur, as opposed to his white fur and baby blue eyes. Snufkin wore a yellow scarf with a black hat and coat, his hat bearing a single, long, yellow feather. His hair was auburn, very much unlike the pale blue accents of his counterpart.

The two looked at each other. "But.. you don't look that way _outside_ the reflection.." Moomin tilted his head in confusion.

"That's because he's _not_ me." Snufkin's reflection smiled. "Not anymore. Thanks, by the way. You really did open my eyes, Moomin, my dove. And now the valley is ours."

"But.. if you're.. then.." Snufkin's eyes darted back and forth, before snapping to Moomin's reflection. "You're the ringleader of the two of us now, aren't you? Instead of me. How many times have we done this?"

"Only the once, and we have to say.." Moomin's reflection draped himself around his Snufkin's shoulders from behind. "We appreciate the gift of the truth, and I personally want to thank you for showing me how to keep Snufkin all~," He kissed his cheek. "to.." Snufkin's reflection smiled, putting a hand to Moomin's cheek and tilting his own head back. ".._myself_." Moomin brushed the back of his fingers along the side of Snufkin's neck, and the two outside the reflecting pool watched in horror as his claws unsheathed slowly.

He slipped his paw around Snufkin's throat, the points gently dragging along the curve of his Adam's apple. The claw on his thumb dug a little deeper, leaving little pearls of red behind as Moomin stroked along his jaw. Snufkin's eyes fluttered shut with a breathy moan, and little pearls became little rivulets, dripping down the side of his neck to stain the fur of Moomin's paw. "Thank you, Moomee. I thought I wanted freedom from attachment, when what I really wanted was to give myself to you completely, to be _loved_ completely."

"And you are, my dear. You're _mine_, Snufkin; mine, and no one else's. And soon.." Moomin sank the tips of his claws on his other paw into Snufkin's shoulder, who whimpered. "Shh, its okay, Snuf. You know I love you more than anything."

"This is wrong! You're not.. what did you do to us?!" The real Moomin cried out, shouting down at the water.

"Don't you remember? You did this to _us_." Suddenly all the visions came rushing back. Moomin dripping his blood into the eyes of a Snufkin that wasn't his, and vice versa. "You didn't know it, but in doing so you only passed your gifts on, and you vanished with them. Now.."

The real Snufkin spoke up. "Now _you_ have my power. But you don't have the knife." He pulled a runed dagger out of his coat, and the other Snufkin's eyes widened.

"It's _beautiful_.." He breathed, looking up to meet the eyes of his paramour. "Moomin, my dove; I want that knife. It calls to me. I yearn to feel its dark warmth as it drains the life from the veins of whomever I please, whomever _you_ please."

Moomin's eyes met the cold, cruel gaze of his counterpart, and he was frightened by the calculated malice he saw there, entirely alien on his face. Matters weren't improved by the next words out of his doppelgänger's mouth. "Well, when you ask so nicely, how could I tell you no?" He grinned, looking back down at his captive lover.

"You know I'd do anything for _**my**_ Snufkin."


End file.
